Typographical line-casting machine



Jan. 2, 1934. E. GAYTER TYPOGRAPHICAL LINE CASTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet Jan. 2, 1934. E. GAYTER TYPOGRAPHICAL LINE CASTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Au I72.

Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHIE Linotype and Machinery Limited, London,

England, a company of England Application August 31,

1931, Serial No. 560,305,

and in Great Britain September 25, 1930 10 Claims.

This invention relates to typographical linecasting machines such as those known commercially under the trade-mark Linotype, and particularly to those machines which are adapted to cast type-bearing slugs with grooves or ribs or both grooves and ribs, formed in, or on, their side faces, whereby said slugs can be readily secured in the chases or holders of the machines in which they are to be used for printing.

In machines thus adapted, the moulds are formed in sections certain of which are relatively movable so as to enable the slugs to be released preparatory to their ejection, and the present invention is concerned chiefly with the means for operating these relatively-movable mould sections and for locking them in their respective operative positions during the casting and ejecting stages.

The moulds may be designed to cast the slugs of difierent cross sections, but for the sake of clearness the present description deals only with the mould in a form adapted to cast slugs of approximately T section with the type characters on the upper or longer of the two parallel members.

One constructional form of mould for this purpose, comprises four main sections two constituting the body and two the cap. Of these sections, one of the body and one of the cap, for any given body of slug, are rigidly attached to each other, both being carried on the mould wheel in well-known manner. Each of these sections (hereinafter for convenience only, termed a fixed section) has slidably mounted thereon the mould section which gives to the respective side of the slug, the desired sectional contour.

These slidable mould sections are attached to the fixed sections in-such manner, that they can move on the latter away from, and towards each other, without disturbing the parallel relationship of their casting faces, sufficient frictional resistance being opposed to prevent this movement being effected without extraneous aid.

The invention will now be described by reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate it as applied to a mould of the before described construction.

Inthese drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of parts of the mould wheel and the vise frame, the mould being here shown in the casting position;

Figure 2 is an'elevation partly in vertical section as viewed from the right-hand side of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a View partly in plan and partly in horizontal section, with the mould shown in the slug-ejecting position, and

Figure 4 is a view generally similar to Figure 3, but drawn to a larger scale, and showing a modified arrangement.

Like reference numerals are used to indicate like or corresponding parts in both of the arrangements illustrated.

1 indicates the mould wheel; 2 the vise frame; 3 'the fixed section of the mould body which is rigidly secured on 1; 4 the fixed section of the mould cap which also is rigidly secured on 1; 3 the slidable section of the mould body; 4 the slidable section of the mould cap; 5 the left-hand or so-called adjustable vise jaw, and 6 the stationary vise jaw.

The sections 3 4 are slidably held against the front of the fixed sections 3, 4, respectively, by shouldered screws 7 which are threaded into the mould wheel 1 and traverse slots in 3 and 4 to permit these slidable sections to move outwards from, and inwards towards, each other, while causing sufficient friction to be exerted thereon to prevent said sections from partaking of those movements without extraneous aid.

On opposite ends of each of the slidable mould sections 3 4 there are provided two V-shaped or approximately V-shaped ribs or projections 8, 9, which are adapted to engage with correspondingly shaped grooves 5 6 formed in the respective vise jaws 5, 6, that is to say, there are two such grooves arranged in parallellism in each of said vise jaws, it being understood that the grooves 5 in the adjustable vise jaws 5 are sufiiciently long to admit of their receiving the respective ribs whatever be the length of the line to be gripped between the jaws. This engagement of the projections 8, 9, with the grooves 5 6*, takes place when, during the normal operation of the machine, the mould wheel 1 is advanced into casting relationship to the composed line of matrices which, at the time, is located between said jaws. It is by this mutual engagement of the projections 8, 9, and grooves 5 6*, that the slidable mould sections 3 4 are both simultaneously moved inwards towards each other, into their proper casting relationship, and retained in such relationship throughout the casting operation.

As is well known, after the casting operation, the mould wheel 1 is retracted from the composed line and turned through three-quarters of a revolution to bring the mould into the ejecting position in which it is shown in Figure 3. Before,

however, the cast slug can be ejected, it is obvious that the slidable mould sections 3, (which are then in interlocking engagement with the respectively opposite sides of the slug) must be withdrawn out of engagement with said slug, and it is the advance of the mould wheel, which then takes place, which effects this retraction and also the retention, throughout the combined slugejecting and trimming operations, of the slidable mould sections in their open or retracted relationship.

To attain this end, the trimming knives 1G, 11, are provided with V -shaped ribs or projections 12, 13, rigidly attached thereto, as by screws 14. The right-hand knife 16, as is well known, is the adjustable one, and the rib or projection 13, attached thereto, is in one length and located centrally with reference to the length of the mould slot, while the rib or projection 12 fast to the fixed knife ll, is formed in two aligned parts which are secured to that knife at a distance apart suiiicient to accommodate between them, the socket 15 which, as ordinarily, is provided for receiving the respective mould-wheel-locating pin. The ribs or projections 13, are adapted to be engaged by grooves 16, 17, respectively, in the front faces of the slidable mould sections 3 4e, of these grooves, that in the section 3 may, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, be one of the usual aligning grooves.

It will be seen that with the devices arranged as before described, when the mold is first presented in casting position, the slidable mould sections 3 4 are in the widest-spread-apart condition, having been left thus after having been opened by the ribs or projections 12, 13, preparatory to the ejection of the last-produced slug. By the next ensuing forward movement of the mould wheel 1, the ribs 8, 9, of the slidable mould sections 3 4 are caused to en age the grooves 5 6, which thereby serve to cam inwards the said sections to their respective casting positions, and retain them in those positions throughout the casting operation, The mould wheel 1, then, after retraction, makes its three-quarter turn to ejecting position during which movement, the slidable mould sections are retained in their relative positions owing to the frictional resistance opposed to their relative movement. The mould is thus presented in slug-ejecting position with the slidable mould sections 3="-, 4 still in closed or casting position, said sections being thereafter spread apart to admit of the next slug ejection, by the immediately succeeding advance of the mould wheel 1, which causes the grooves 16, 1'7, to engage the ribs or projections l2, l3, and thereby cam outwards from each other the two mould sections 3 e sufiiciently to enable the slug, when ejected from the mould, to pass freely between them onward to the trimming knives 1G, 11.

The slidable mould sections 3 4 as shown best in Figure 4, are of such shape that in the resultant slug, the part of T section is attached to the part which is formed between the fixed mould sections 3, 4, by a thin neck which, as is usual, in this method of slug-casting can be easily broken by hand or otherwise, to bring the former part into usable condition.

It is to be understood that the details of construction hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings may be modified without departing from the invention. For example when the slugs having a printing face of larger body dimension than that of the part cast between the fixed mould sections are to be produced, as

indicated in Figure 4, the rib 13, instead of being attached to the adjustable knife 10, may as shown in that figure, be attached, as by a bracket 18, to the knife block 19, which carries the adjustable knife 10 and the position of the groove 17 for co-operating with it may be correspondingly varied on the respective movable mould section, all as shown in the figure here under review.

Having described my invention I declare that what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination with a casting mould movable forwardly and rearwardly relatively to a matrixholding vise and slug trimming knives, and having walls comprised of relatively fixed sections and sections which are slidable inwards towards and outwards from each other, of ribs and grooves on the slidable sections and vise jaws and knives, which mutually engage one with another when the casting mould is advanced, so that both of the slidable sections are simultaneously moved positively towards each other by such mutual engagement oi the ribs and grooves on the sections and vise jaws when the mould is advanced at the casting position and simultaneously moved positively outwards from each other by such mutual engagement of the ribs and grooves on the sections and knives when the mould is advanced at the slug-ejecting position.

2. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination with a casting mould movable forwardly and rearwardly relatively to a matrixholding vise and slug trimming knives, and having walls comprised of relatively fixed sections and sections which are slidable inwards towards and outwards from each other, of ribs and grooves on the slidable sections and vise jaws and knife block, which mutually engage one with another when the casting mould is advanced, so that both of the slidable sections are simultaneously moved positively towards each other by such mutual engagement of the ribs and grooves on the sections and vise jaws when the mould is advanced at the casting position and simultaneously moved positively outwards from each other by such mutual engagement of the ribs and grooves on the sections and knives when the mould is advanced at the slug-ejecting position.

3. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination with a mould carrier and a matrixholding vise and slug trimming knives relatively to which the mould carrier is movable forwardly into, and backwardly from casting position, of a mould on the carrier having walls comprised of relatively fixed sections and sections which are slidable inwards towards and outwards from each other, and ribs and grooves on the slidable sections and vise jaws which mutually engage one with another when the casting mould is advanced so that both of the slidable sections are simultaneously moved positively towards each other when the mould is at the casting position and firmly locked in such condition during casting.

4. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination with a mould carrier and a matrixholding vise and a pair of slug-trimming knives relatively to which the mould carrier is movable forwardly into, and backwardly from slug-ejecting position, of a mould on the carrier having walls comprised of relatively fixed sections and two sections which are slidable inwards towards and outwards from each other, and ribs and grooves on the two slidable sections and the two slug-trimming knives which mutually engage one with another when the casting mould is advanced so that both of the slidable sections are simultaneously moved outwards from each other when the mould is at the slug-ejecting position.

5. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination with a mould carrier, slug-trimming knives, relatively to which the mould carrier is movable forwardly into and backwardly out of slug-ejecting position, and an adjustable knife block carrying one of the knives, of a mould on the carrier having one of the walls comprised of a relatively fixed section and a section which is slidable inwards towards and outwards from the complementary section, and ribs and grooves on the slidable section and adjustable knife block which mutually engage when the casting mould is advanced so that the slidable section is moved outwards from said complementary section when the mould is at the slug-ejecting position.

6. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that it is by the engagement of one of the matrix aligning grooves with one of the ribs that the inner of the two slidable mould sections is moved relatively to the other of such sections.

'7. In a typographical line casting machine, the combination of a casting mould comprising two front sections slidable toward and from each other, a pair of line-clamping jaws, a carrier for moving the mould into and out of engagement with said jaws, and mutually cooperating cam surfaces formed on the slidable mould sections and the line-clamping jaws and acting by the advancing movement of the mould carrier for positively moving the slidable mould sections towards each other and for locking them in the position thus assumed during the casting operation.

8. A combination as in claim 7, characterized by the fact that one of the line-clamping jaws is adjustable toward and from its companion, and that the mutually cooperating cam surfaces are arranged to act in different adjusted positions of the jaws.

9. In a typographical line-casting machine, the combination of a casting mould comprising two front sections slidable toward and from each other, a pair of slug-trimming knives, a carrier for moving the mould into and out of operative relation to the knives, and mutually cooperating cam surfaces formed on both slidable mould sections and on both trimming knives or their supports and acting by the advancing movement of the mould carrier for positively separating the mould sections and for locking them in such separated condition during the ejection of the slug.

10. A combination as in claim 9, characterized by the fact that one of the slug-trimming knives is adjustable toward and from its companion, and that the mutually cooperating cam surfaces are arranged to act in different adjusted positions of the knives.

ERIC GAYTER. 

